VAT in Latvia in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

8 minutos de lectura

In Latvia, VAT is called pievienotās vērtības nodoklis (PVN). It has three rates: the standard 21% rate and two reduced rates, 12% and 5%. These are set out in articles 41 and 42 of the Pievienotās vērtības nodokļa likums, the Latvian VAT law. And if the table you are looking at is from before summer, it is no longer valid: from 1 July 2026 bread, milk, poultry and eggs are taxed at 12% instead of 21%, with an expiry date in June 2027.

The 5% rate applies to books and the press, with a condition you will not see in almost any other country: it only applies if the publication is in one of the languages on the law’s list. Spanish is included.

Rate	Percentage	Applies to
Standard (nodokļa standartlikme)	21 %	Everything that does not have a reduced rate: clothing, footwear, electronics, cosmetics, household items, alcoholic beverages and most food, including meat other than poultry and frozen, canned or dried fruit or vegetables
Reduced (nodokļa samazinātā likme)	12 %	Medicines, medical products for the individual use of people with functional disorders of the body, specialised infant foods, regular passenger transport and luggage within the country, accommodation in tourist establishments, wood fuel (firewood, chips, sawdust, briquettes and pellets) and thermal energy for household use, and the fresh fruit, berries and vegetables listed in Annex 1 of the law
Temporary reduced (samazinātā likme pārtikas pamatproduktiem)	12 %	Bread of all kinds, including pasteurised or frozen; fresh, pasteurised or sterilised milk; fresh refrigerated poultry meat and shell eggs, according to Annex 2, from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027; before and after that, 21 %
Reduced (nodokļa samazinātā likme)	5 %	Paper or electronic books, including school literature, brochures, children’s drawing and colouring books, printed sheet music and maps; newspapers, magazines and bulletins, including electronic and subscription-based ones. The language must be on the law’s list, and erotic, advertising and mainly audiovisual or musical content is excluded

Rates verified on 12 September 2026 against the consolidated text of the «Pievienotās vērtības nodokļa likums», the Latvian VAT law, on likumi.lv, the official publisher Latvijas Vēstnesis portal (version in force since 01.01.2026) (likumi.lv).

Bread, milk, chicken and eggs at 12% only until June 2027

From 1 July 2026, four basic food groups pay 12% instead of 21%: bread, milk, poultry and eggs. This was introduced by the law of 3 December 2025, published in Latvijas Vēstnesis on 18 December 2025, which added point 48 to the transitional provisions with the expiry date built in: the reduction applies until 30 June 2027. On that day they return to 21%, unless it is extended. The Ministry of Economy presents it as a one-year reduction and distributes a voluntary seal, «Godīgs PVN samazinātājs», among shops that sign up to pass the cut on to the final price; the PTAC, the consumer authority, warns that nine percentage points less VAT means 7.4% less on the label, not 9%.

The key is Annex 2 of the law, written by tariff headings, and it excludes more than it includes. At 12% are bread (1905) made from rye, wheat or mixed flour, gluten-free bread, rolls and flatbread such as pita, lavash or tortilla, including pasteurised or frozen; milk (0401) fresh, pasteurised or sterilised from cow, sheep or goat, including lactose-free milk and regardless of fat content; poultry meat (0207) fresh refrigerated chicken, duck, turkey, goose, guinea fowl and quail, including offal and meat that is cut up, boned or minced; and shell eggs (0407) that are untreated thermally. Still at 21% are pastries and croissants, toast, breadcrumbs and breadsticks, UHT milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, flavoured milk and plant-based drinks made from oats or almonds, frozen meat and minced meat with more than 1% salt.

The other reduced food rate is older and no longer has an expiry date. Fresh fruit, berries and vegetables have been taxed at 12% since 1 January 2024 — until 2023 they were at 5% — and since 1 January 2025 the law removed the end date. But only the 64 entries in Annex 1 qualify: apples, blackcurrants, blueberries, sea buckthorn berries, potatoes, carrots, cabbages, dill… It is a list shaped by the Latvian climate, so bananas, oranges and kiwis are taxed at 21%. Being washed, peeled, cut or packaged does not change anything; if they are frozen, salted or dried, they fall outside 12%.

Which VAT you charge customers in Latvia if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 21% as the standard rate in Latvia, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes tax rates by country, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class or monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to set up:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT ID validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once across all countries.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points where stores selling to the rest of the European Union break down.

Two quick checks: check the customer’s VAT number in VIES before invoicing without VAT, and use the EU VAT calculator to see which rate to charge on each sale.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the standard VAT rate in Latvia in 2026?

21%, set out in article 41 of the Latvian VAT law. Below that there are two reduced rates: 12%, for medicines, tourist accommodation, passenger transport, fresh fruit and vegetables and — until 30 June 2027 — bread, milk, poultry and eggs; and 5%, for books and newspapers.

Has VAT on food in Latvia been reduced?

Yes, in four groups and with an end date. From 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, bread, milk, fresh poultry meat and shell eggs pay 12% instead of 21%. Pastries, toast, UHT milk, flavoured milk, plant-based drinks and frozen meat are not included. The fresh fruit, berries and vegetables in Annex 1 were already at 12% and do not expire.

I sell to Latvia from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (21% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in Latvia?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.